Mind Games
by Maid Malcolm
Summary: Jaime and his Scarab's AI awake one morning to find their positions reversed - Khaji Da controls Jaime's body, and Jaime controls the Blue Beetle armor.
1. Chapter 1

_Heart rate: 46 beats per minute._

_Blood pressure: 120/70._

_Blood composition: normal._

_All monitored body systems working within normal parameters._

-Wait, what?-

_Heart rate spike: 59 beats per minute. Warning: adrenalin response. Body systems working within safe parameters._

-What's happening? Am I dreaming?-

_Full consciousness achieved, heart rate 65 beats per minute._

Jaime couldn't see anything. He tried to open his eyes. No response. He... felt... somebody move in front of him. The person quickly pulled themselves upright in bed and then sat very, very still.

-Hello?-

Silence. Then, his own voice whispered back, "Jaime Reyes?"

That was... interesting.

-What's happening? Who are you?-

"You call me 'Scarab'."

-And what's... –

"I do not know." The person... the Scarab... moved about, seemed to be rubbing his own arms and legs. Jaime felt his adrenalin surge higher.

-Wait a minute. Don't tell me we've... oh, no. Nono, this is bad.-

"Indeed. I appear to be in control of your functions and you of mine."

-There is no way that this will end well! And I can't see a thing!-

"Yes, you can. You must access the... you must..." Jaime felt the Scarab shake his head. "It does not have a word in either of your languages. There is a function for it among your monitoring systems."

Jaime poked around with the monitoring systems a bit. He could measure the concentration of seventeen hormones and hundreds of trace toxins in his blood. He could measure blood pressure, pulse, breathing, and voluntary and involuntary nerve responses. He could diagnose common infections, read bone and muscle density... suddenly, the world lit up and Jaime was staring at a picture of his own bedroom wall. The image wasn't good quality; it was fairly grainy, with the peripheral vision in black and white and barely distinguishable.

-I got it. Why is the quality so bad?-

"That depends what you are looking at. You are probably accessing an image that has gone through very little processing. The image you are used to is heavily edited by your own mind. You should be able to access that too."

Jaime poked around until the wall looked pretty much as he remembered. -Okay.-

"We must resolve this issue as quickly as possible."

-Yeah. What caused it?-

"I am uncertain. Most likely our fight with the magician."

-Klarion? _Mierda._ I hate magic! Can you fix it?-

"Unlikely. I do not have access to my diagnostics and control systems and you do not know how to properly utilise them. Besides which, I doubt that my systems are equipped to handle this type of problem."

-We'll need help, then. The Team or the League.-

"Negative. Our vulnerable state cannot be known. It would put us in danger."

-No, being in this 'vulnerable state' puts us in danger. Getting some help from our allies gets us _out_ of danger.-

"And do you have any allies that you can trust enough to divulge such information to, Jaime Reyes?"

-Yes!-

The Scarab shook his... Jaime's... head. "It is too great a risk. We should attempt to resolve this ourselves."

There was a knock on the door. "Jaime?" Jaime's mother called. "Are you up?"

Jaime felt a strange tingle. Familiar, but... inverted. He fought back. -Are you trying to summon the sonic cannon?-

"Our condition cannot become known."

-I'm not going to let you kill my mother!-

"Jaime, you have school in half an hour."

-Tell her you're sick!-

"That ruse will be ineffective!"

-Do it!-

"I'm sick!" the Scarab called.

A pause. Then his mother walked into the room. "You haven't been sick since you became Blue Beetle," she said. "What's going on?"

The tingle again. Jaime fought against it. The Scarab instead bunched his hand into a fist.

-No! You will not hit my Mum! Calm down and repeat exactly what I say.-

Reluctantly, the Scarab relaxed his hand and parroted Jaime's words. "I'm having some... problems... with the armour today. It's not responding properly and I'm worried about hurting someone or blowing my cover."

His mother raised an eyebrow. "Huh. You know, I bet I'm the only mother in El Paso to have ever heard that excuse. How long do you think it's going to be a problem?"

"Hopefully not very long."

"Well, alright. I'll stay out of your way, _miho_, but don't let your grades slip."

"I won't. Love you."

"You too." She kissed him on the forehead and left. Jaime detected minor chemical changes in the Scarab's bloodstream. Not dangerous. The Scarab sat very still, staring after her, then slowly reached up to run the spot where she'd kissed him.

"I told you the ruse would be ineffective," the Scarab muttered.

-Yeah, well, you also wanted to kill her, so I'm not listening to you. No weapons for you until you stop trying to kill family members. And whatever you do don't tell her the details of what's happened. She would freak out.-

"I am not the one intending to advertise our vulnerability."

-Well, the longer we sit here, the more vulnerable we are.-

"Agreed." The Scarab stood up, wobbled for a second on his feet, and Jaime felt a different kind of tingle. This time he let the Scarab have his way, synthesising fabric around his body. Together, they snuck around his mother, successfully avoiding a second conversation, only to be stopped my Milagro in the front doorway.

"Are you gonna walk with me to school today, Jaime?"

"I... can't," the Scarab parrotted Jaime's words. "I have stuff to do."

Milagro narrowed her eyes. "Stuff?"

"You know. Hero stuff. I'll tell you all about it later."

"Oh. Okay. Good luck!" She trotted off happily.

"I assume you are not actually going to tell her the truth later," the Scarab muttered quietly.

-No, I'll make something up. Or knowing our luck, tell her about a totally true but unrelated thing happening today.- They walked a few blocks away from the house and armoured up. -We're not zeta-ing?-

"It is difficult to know the effects that zeta teleportation are likely to have on our current condition," the Scarab explained as they took flight.

-Great.-

"Our armour has successfully protected you at the bottom of the ocean, it is capable of a cross-country trip."

-That's not what I'm worried about. I'm worried... about that, right there. Exactly that.- Jaime would have sighed if he still had lungs. Below them, a few young men had cornered a middle-aged woman. They seemed to be trying to take her purse. She was trying to stare them down. Jaime had no doubts about his ability to resolve the situation. He just had doubts about the Scarab's ability to resolve the situation.

"It is not important. We have a higher priority problem on our hands."

-No, we... we need to get down there. She needs help.-

"I do not understand why that is relevant."

-You wouldn't. But it is. We need to help her.-

"Very well. Scan for concealed weapons or technology."

Jaime poked around a bit and found that function. The men all had switchblades, but otherwise carried nothing more dangerous than a mobile phone. The Scarab landed and summoned the sonic cannon. Jaime found the blueprints and built it around his forearm.

"I thought you said no weapons?" the Scarab asked as he aimed.

-No killing!- Jaime dragged the power level down to nonfatal levels. The Scarab fired, pushing a sonic beam into the gut of the nearest thug, then pulled the cannon to the side to take out the other two. It only took about three seconds. Then he turned, aimed at the first man again who was curled up on the ground. He'd forgotten about the switchblade, now lying by his head – it wouldn't have hurt Blue Beetle anyway. Jaime started to disassemble the cannon. The Scarab fought. Took aim.

Jaime had fought the Scarab for control before, but usually from the other side. He wasn't sure if he could win _as_ the Scarab. He pulled, willing the cannon to disintegrate, the metal to fragment and pack away into the armour. It didn't. Slowly, he felt his control over the power slipping.

-Wait. No killing! He's already down!-

"We have fought this one before. He will continue to cause problems. We cannot afford these distractions." They struggled further. "If you insist on resisting me, I will simply use his knife to save time."

-You think I can't take control of this armour?-

"That is exactly what I think. You are inexperienced and now, I have the advantage."

-I said no killing!-

"In case you did not notice, Jaime Reyes, making that decision is no longer your role."

Jaime felt his control slip further. The man at the Scarab's feet was starting to recover. He looked up, into the barrel of the sonic cannon. Slowly but surely, the power level increased.

-You'll give us away!-

"Explain."

-Blue Beetle doesn't kill, right? If you start leaving a trail of bodies, people will know something's up. Our enemies will figure out that we're vulnerable. We don't know how long this'll take to fix; we can't afford suspicion.-

Scarab glanced from the man on the ground to his companions, who were trying to get up and run, and then to the terrified woman. "You make a good point," he muttered, and put the cannon away. "I will attempt to emulate your strategies for secrecy." Louder, he said, "Do you need me to walk you home, ma'am?"

"N... no. No, I'm fine. Thanks." The woman clutched her bag and all but ran out of the alley.

"So who, exactly, are we requesting assistance from?" the Scarab asked when they were once more in the air.

-A magic-user. Zatanna, perhaps? Or Dr Fate?-

"The Nabu is more likely to have knowledge specific to this problem, given the perpetrator," the Scarab reasoned. "But may be difficult to contact without alerting the entire League."

-Yeah, this is... a problem I'd rather keep to ourselves as much as possible. Maybe Nightwing or M'Gann would know how to contact him. They both have pretty strong League ties.-

"I do not trust the Nightwing. He is... secretive."

-You don't trust anyone. And you're secretive. What about M'Gann?-

"I would prefer to avoid mind-readers in our current state."

-Nightwing it is.-

The Scarab activated their communicator. "Blue Beetle to base. Is Nightwing around?"

"Right here. Go ahead, Beetle."

"I'm approaching the base now. Can we talk? Privately?"

A long pause. "I'll meet you in the foyer."

The building that the Team had co-opted as temporary headquarters since the loss of the Cave was large and usually felt unnaturally empty. With just Nightwing waiting in the foyer, it felt doubly so. As the Scarab strode across the room towards Nightwing, Jaime went to put the armour away. The Scarab resisted. "We may need to defend ourselves," he muttered.

-No, if you walk over to him and tell him who you are armoured-up you're gonna look hostile,- Jaime insisted. -We don't need a fight with our allies right now.-

"We cannot trust him not to attack."

-We need his help, remember? And we want to keep this secret?-

"Very well." The Scarab let him put the suit away. Nightwing smiled and walked over. Without really thinking about it, Jaime scanned his vital signs as he approached; heart rate and blood composition were inconsistent with his relaxed persona.

"Hey, Blue. What's up?" Voice pattern was inconsistent with body language. Nightwing was hiding something. Possibly just stress at their unusual request, but the Scarab had been warning him for some time that Nightwing had secrets...

"Who else is here?" the Scarab asked.

Nightwing casually placed one hand on his hip. Slight blood pressure spike. Atypical arm orientation. He was positioning himself so that a weapon was within easy reach. Jaime fought down his immediate reaction to armour up against the inevitable attack. The Scarab didn't seem to notice.

"Just Mal," Nightwing answered in a voice that probably sounded sincerely relaxed to human ears. "But he can't hear us, obviously."

That, the Scarab did notice. He glanced briefly at the security camera to their left.

-Please don't start a fight,- Jaime pleaded.

The Scarab turned his head to that the camera couldn't catch his lips and said, "We have a problem."

"What is it, Jaime?"

"I am not Jaime."

Nightwing adjusted his stance. Toes forward, easy to spring from. His heartbeat suddenly slowed. He was going into combat mode. "What do you mean, exactly?"

"I am the artificial intelligence bonded to Jaime Reyes. We appear to have encountered... magical trouble." He paused a second. "Jaime wishes for me to tell you that we have a 'body swap scenario'."

"So... you, an artificial intelligence, is in control of Jaime's body. And Jaime is... inside the Scarab?"

"That appears to be the case. We would prefer to keep this as secret as possible."

"And how, exactly, did this happen?"

"We believe that it resulted from an encounter with the one called Klarion, but it is impossible to establish cause with certainty."

"Klarion." The disgust in Nightwing's voice was sincere.

"We believe that Dr Fate may be able to help us, but we do not wish to alert the Justice League at large."

Nightwing nodded. "I'll try to contact him."

-Say thank you,- Jaime prompted.

"Thank you."

"No problem." Nightwing, Jaime noticed, didn't take his hand too far from his belt until he was out of the room.

-That was... unexpectedly diplomatic.-

"I attempted to gain his cooperation with the minimum amount of debate."

-You did well.-

"I imitated you."

* * *

Back in the hurriedly assembled temporary ops centre, Nightwing was talking to Mal. "Hey, how much do you know about Jaime's Scarab's artificial intelligence?"

"It has an artificial intelligence?" Mal's eyes widened. "I thought he was talking to himself this whole time!"

"Apparently not."

"What's wrong with it? Can I help?"

"I doubt it." Nightwing bit his lip. Keep it secret, the AI had said. Nightwing was good at keeping secrets.

The question was which secrets should be kept.


	2. Chapter 2

Jaime had been through a lot in his short life. But being stared at by a Lord of Order was new.

Dr Fate would be a fair bit taller than Jaime... well, than the Scarab, at that moment everyone was taller than Jaime... even if he hadn't been floating a good foot off the ground. Only his eyes were visible behind the golden mask, and they were expressionless. Jaime's background systems kept trying to scan Dr Fate's vital signs, only to send back a confusing mess that was dizzying to look at. It was like trying to navigate a hall where the walls, floor and ceiling were all painted in different optical illusions, the lights would flash painfully bright at random intervals, and the floor kept tilting unpredictably. He was beginning to see what the Scarab meant when it screamed "NOT COMPATIBLE" in his mind.

"Can you fix it?" Nightwing asked after several long minutes of silence.

"NO."

-But... but he has to!-

"Why not?" the Scarab asked. His voice was calm, but Jaime had been monitoring his steadily increasing adrenalin levels since Dr Fate had arrived and was fighting the urge to armour up in response. He was starting to consider drugging the Scarab to calm him down (something he hadn't previously been aware the Scarab could do, and wasn't particularly happy about).

"KLARION'S MAGIC IS STRONG AND CHAOTIC. TO MIX MAGICS IN THIS WAY AT THIS TIME WOULD BE DANGEROUS."

"What would you suggest we do?" Nightwing asked.

"THE BEST COURSE WOULD BE TO CONVINCE KLARION TO REVERSE THE SPELL."

"Too high-risk," the Scarab said, "with very little chance of success."

"THEN WAIT. WITHOUT SOME SORT OF ANCHOR TO GROUND THE SWAP, YOUR MINDS SHOULD REASSERT THEIR NATURAL POSITIONS IN TIME."

"And there is no... anchor?" Nightwing asked.

"NOT THAT I HAVE DETECTED."

"How long?" the Scarab asked.

"I DO NOT KNOW."

"What was the purpose of this swap? What could the Klarion gain from such a thing?"

"I DO NOT KNOW. KLARION'S METHODS AND GOALS ARE OFTEN INSCRUTIBLE. HE IS CHAOS INCARNATE."

"Right," Nightwing said. "Thank you for your help."

Clearly taking that remark for a dismissal, Dr Fate summoned and stepped into a portal without responding.

"Well," Nightwing said after several seconds of awkward silence, "I guess that answers that."

The Scarab nodded. "Ideally we should go after this Klarion, but our current state is... vulnerable. It may be necessary to wait out the spell. We must isolate ourselves from potential enemies until the situation is resolved." He headed for the door.

-Wait, we what? No! I have school, and... and the Team!-

Both Jaime and the Scarab ignored Nightwing's odd look as they armoured up to leave. They were heading for the door when Nightwing put a gentle restraining hand on the Scarab's elbow. The Scarab spun and threw him, but Nightwing grabbed the Scarab's shoulder spike in one hand, flipped around behind him, and put an arm around his throat. "Stand down and I won't have to hurt you!"

_Adrenalin response. Heart rate spike. Systems within safe parameters. Hostile action attempting to restrict breathing. Breathing unobstructed._ Jaime passed a charge through the armour. Nightwing screamed and let go. The Scarab called a plasma cannon; Jaime built it around his arm without thinking. The Scarab aimed.

-Wait! No!-

"He attacked first," the Scarab responded. "He proved himself unworthy of your trust."

"I don't want to hurt you," Nightwing said, drawing a batarang.

"Then we have the advantage."

-He wasn't attacking!-

"Are you telling me the Nightwing was not hostile?"

-He... well... -

"As I thought. Your trust was misplaced."

-No, he... we need him. We need him alive.-

"Then I will simply disable him." The Scarab adjusted the power accordingly.

-We can retreat without hurting anyone.-

"Such a tactic would give the impression of weakness."

-Just trust me!-

"Your judgements today have not been accurate."

"Beetle... Scarab..." Nightwing said slowly, "It would be best if you just... stayed here, inside the base, while we figured this out."

"We cannot stay here."

-The base is probably the safest place,- Jaime pointed out.

"The chances of us successfully orchestrating such a ruse long-term are very low," the Scarab explained under his breath, "and we are too vulnerable in this state to effectively defend ourselves against our stronger potential enemies. If this situation is going to persist for an indeterminate length of time, we cannot effectively strategise to compensate. We must temporarily withdraw and isolate ourselves completely until the situation has resolved itself."

-No, you are not pulling me out of school and away from my family for an 'indeterminate length of time'. That's just going to create a mess to clean up later.-

"Yes, but we will no longer be vulnerable when cleaning it up."

-If we are attacked, would you rather it be in a familiar area, surrounded by our allies, or off alone somewhere?-

"Those 'allies' could – "

-No. You have fought with these people.-

After a long moment, the Scarab lowered his weapon. "You must agree to maintain our secret," he told Nightwing.

"You want to hide this situation from the rest of the Team?"

"Yes."

"Fine. Stay and I won't give your secret away."

"We cannot stay. We must go to school."

-No!- Jaime didn't even want to think about how many ways that could go wrong.

"But I thought you wanted to resume – "

-Yes, but tomorrow, ok? If we're stuck like this, we both need a lot of practise.-

"Where, then?"

-Somewhere nobody knows me. Let's... let's get you convincingly human first, and then worry about the details.-

"We must leave," the Scarab said to Nightwing. "If you intend to try to stop us..."

"I think you're making a mistake," Nightwing said.

"Your opinion is not relevant." With that, the Scarab turned and left. After some brief discussion, they ended up in a mall somewhere in New York. Jaime felt the Scarab's nervousness at the crowds. Normal reaction, nothing to worry about.

They'd barely entered the mall when the Scarab's heart rate spiked and his perception of his surroundings shrank to less than half of normal. Seconds later, Jaime detected significant chemical changes in his bloodstream. -Look out.-

"What? What is it?" the Scarab muttered, moving into a more stable stance.

-Not sure. Scanning.- No unusual chemical or sonic effects. Some guns present, but none of then drawn. No hostile actions from surrounding people. -Never mind, I can't find anything.-

"Can't find anything? What put you on alert?" the Scarab muttered. His eyes followed a passing woman in a particularly low-cut top and he nearly walked into a wall. "Something is definitely interfering with my sensory systems."

-Aha. No, I got it. It's not dangerous.-

"What is it?"

-It's a... biological weakness. Stop staring at women, my Mum raised me better than that.-

"Why?"

-Because it's rude and disrespectful.- Jaime thought about that for a bit and tried putting it into terms the Scarab would understand. -It can be taken as a signal of hostility and we don't want to start an unnecessary fight here. Seriously, it's like you've never seen a woman before.-

"Through human eyes, I have not." The Scarab frowned to himself and fixed his gaze resolutely forward. "What is the pain beneath my ribs?"

-Hunger. You didn't have breakfast. We should get you something to eat. And stop talking to yourself, it's a sign of mental illness.-

The Scarab quickly identified and headed for the food court. Finding food once there, however, was a more difficult matter. His eyes skittered from shop to shop, settling on each menu for a few seconds before moving onward. "What is the most effective food item for eliminating hunger?" He asked in some distress.

-You've been watching me eat since you bonded to my spine and food still confuses you?-

"Beyond scanning for common poisons, I do not generally interfere with your eating. Which is the most effective?"

-Ah, well, it's not a matter of effectiveness, even with the price...-

"It certainly is," the Scarab insisted impatiently. "Which of these food has the optimal carbohydrate and sugar levels that my gastrointestinal system will recognise?"

-I don't...- Jaime gave up. -The pie. Buy pie.-

"Which pie?"

-Apricot pie. From over there.-

The Scarab patiently stood in line and ordered and obtained his pie without major incident. It was served on a little plate with a plastic fork. Carefully avoiding staring at anybody in a potentially hostile manner, he manoeuvred his way to an empty table, sat down, and stared at the pie. After considering it for a moment, he leaned forward and breathed deeply. Slight dopamine increase in the brain, barely worthy of note. The Scarab balanced a small piece of pie on his plastic fork and stuck it in his mouth. He froze, staring fixedly at the now-empty fork, for about ten seconds. Jaime could feel his taste buds respond to the pie in a detached sort of way; he noted the activation, the chemicals they sensed, and a more sophisticated chemical analysis by his own artificial systems, without experiencing the flavour in any familiar way. He noted a further increase in dopamine and a few other trace hormones. Slowly, deliberately, the Scarab started to chew. Slowly, deliberately, the Scarab swallowed. He stared down at the pie.

-Don't like it?- Jaime asked.

"I... do," the Scarab whispered. "But it is... overwhelming." After some consideration, he ate another forkful.

Jaime decided to try something. -See that little girl over there eating pie? She's feeling the same things you are.-

The Scarab looked at the girl for a few seconds before losing interest. He slowly worked his way through the pie. Jaime felt his pulse jump before every mouthful.

-Are you nervous? Is pie actually making you nervous?-

"I think something is wrong with our mind transfer," the Scarab whispered.

-Why?-

"I... suspect that the environment is having a direct effect on my cognitive faculties. There is no filter or separate processing."

-Oh.- Jaime chuckled in the Scarab's head. It felt disconcerting, not being accompanied by any of the normal sensations of laughter. -That's normal. Human moods and thoughts influence each other, and both are influenced by the environment.-

"These things have a direct effect on your thought process?!" the Scarab hissed.

-Yes.-

"The environment directly affecting the cognitive faculties of an Infiltrator unit would be considered severe damage! How can you reliably function under such circumstances?!"

-We seem to manage. You'll get used to it.-

"To 'get used to it' would be to learn to ignore the flaw, not eliminate the flaw!" The Scarab hissed through his teeth as he stabbed angrily at the pie.

-Calm down, people are staring.-

"I cannot calm down. I have only minimal control over my moods."

-Try taking deep, slow breaths and thinking about pie.-

The Scarab started to breathe deeply and slowly as instructed. His heart rate fell to a little above rest. -You know,- Jaime said, -I'm a little surprised you didn't ask me to keep your hormones consistent to control your moods.-

"I do not think that would be effective," the Scarab muttered. "It would be likely to create a disconnect between different mood-contributing systems and exacerbate the problem."

If Jaime could sigh in relief, he would have. He'd been worried that he'd have to talk the Scarab out of turning him into some kind of unfeeling robot when they finally switched back. The Scarab slowly finished the pie and then glanced around. His gaze came to rest on a bookshop. "Do you require any books?" he asked quietly.

-Not really, but let's take a look.-

"I do not understand the purpose of this shop," the Scarab muttered as they thumbed through a random biography of some star Jaime had never heard of. "These data could be more efficiently transmitted electronically."

-Yeah, well, some people like to feel paper in their hands when they read.-

"Why? The information is the same."

-But people like to feel like they're reading a book. You know what, I don't think I can explain this to you. It's just something that humans do.-

"Can I help you?" A saleslady asked, coming up behind them. The Scarab jumped; heart rate spiked. He tried to summon a weapon; Jaime resisted.

"I do not... I am fine, thank you," the Scarab responded tonelessly. "I am browsing."

"Alright, let me know if you need anything." The saleswoman flashed her a bright smile and moved on.

"She surprised us," the Scarab muttered. "She must be trained in stealth. Probably hostile. Recommend – "

-She surprised you because your attention was on the book. She's a civilian. She's not hostile.-

"You cannot be certain of that."

-Are you going to try to kill everybody we meet until this is over?-

"Only if they are dangerous."

-So that's a yes, then?-

"That would depend on who we encounter."

-This was a mistake. We should go somewhere... less crowded.-

"We should return to El Paso."

-No, we shouldn't.-

"It is known territory."

-Why, so you can try to kill my mother again?-

"I already agreed to avoid fatalities for the purposes of maintaining the illusion of normalcy."

-... Fine. But no hitting family members.-

They landed safely in El Paso several blocks from Jaime's house and put the armour away. The Scarab was casually walking back home when they saw Bart, in civvies, heading for their front door. At least he wasn't in costume this time.

-Oh, we don't want to... too late, he's seen us.-

The Scarab smiled and waved. "How are you doing, _hermano_?"

Bart froze and stared for about half a second. Then he turned and fled, faster than even Jaime's artificial systems could track. The Scarab tried to armour up to pursue; Jaime resisted. -If you chase him, we'll freak him out more!-

"The leak must be contained."

-No! No. He's afraid of you, and with good reason! We're not... hunting him down! Let him go.-

"He will reveal our condition."

-There's nothing we can do about that. You wouldn't be able to catch him anyway. We are so busted.-

"How did he know?" The Scarab sounded confused, which was at least better than his normal toneless mutter. "My imitation of you was perfect."

-Apparently not.-

"But..."

-I'm guessing he has a lot more experience detecting _you_, than you do trying to be _me_. Yeah. We are busted.-

"Suggested tactic for containing the leak..." the Scarab bit his lip. Jaime felt his uneasiness in his biofeedback systems.

-You could do my math homework,- Jaime suggested.

"How will that help?"

-It'll help me.-


	3. Chapter 3

-Where are we going?- Jaime asked.

"Into the desert."

-So you're not going to do my homework?-

"Your homework is a low tactical priority. The Impulse will most likely gather a force to attack us. We must make ourselves difficult to find." The Scarab tossed his communicator onto the ground and crushed it with one armoured heel. "Or would you prefer a full-scale fight in the proximity of your family?"

-Wait, why would Bart gather a force to attack us?-

The Scarab, showing a mastery of human body language that surprised Jaime, rolled his eyes. "Have you forgotten the information he imparted during our encounter with the Reach?"

Ah. Bart thought the Scarab was going to turn on humanity and create the horrible future he'd come back to prevent.

Was the Scarab going to turn on humanity and create the horrible future that Bart had come back to prevent?

No. No, that was impossible. Because Jaime had the armour now. If it came down to it, if Jaime wasn't able to cajole or distract the Scarab and it came down to an all-out, drawn-out fight for the armour... he'd win. He'd have to. Too much was at stake for him to lose to that crazy thing.

He hoped he could win.

-We could, you know, not fight.-

The Scarab hissed quietly in frustration. "We cannot allow ourselves to be captured."

-The Team are our allies.-

"If they come to apprehend us in the desert, then they are not."

-So, what? We're just going to run?-

"No. Ideally, evasion would be the best tactic given our current circumstances, but we never verified that the device with which the Aqualad tracked us was destroyed. If the Nightwing still possesses it, running is futile. We retreat into the desert to increase their search time if they cannot track us, and we use the time to create a defensible situation."

-Defensible? How?-

"I assume you will not tolerate hostages."

-No!-

"Then we must be strategic about this. We must dig."

The Scarab took them far out into the desert and had Jaime scan for large rocks and rocky mountains. Eventually, they found stone with the characteristics they wanted, and started to dig. They'd barely begun when Jaime detected something. -Incoming. We have something large and organic... the bioship, I think.. from the West. A couple of flying humanoids from the East. I think they're attempting to surround us.- He quickly calculated their speed and firepower. -I recommend we flee. Chances of successful evasion: 44%.-

"Not good enough." The Scarab pulled out the plasma cannon. _Adrenalin spike, heart rate increase, within safe parameters. _

-We don't want to hurt these people.-

"That was their decision."

Jaime tracked the various minor physiological changes in the Scarab. It wasn't the same as the previous alarm responses. Something was different about it. Something strange. Not dangerous, though, so probably not important. -If we retreat and wait for this situation to resolve itself...-

"They could've waited for that." He was angry! That was it. The Scarab was angry. That couldn't be a good thing.

Wonder Girl and M'Gann approached from their left. The Bioship hovered a little farther away on the right, in camoflage mode, but Jaime could see it fine. He played the relevant scanning information across the Scarab's visor.

"Blue!" M'Gann called, coming closer and raising her hands. Jaime's scans pulled up her weakness to fire, and he stopped himself from converting the Scarab's weapon accordingly. "We don't want to hurt you."

The Scarab shot her. The beam knocked her out of the sky, although she'd be fine. In a bit.

"Hey!" Wonder Girl charged. The Scarab dodged left, then right in response to Jaime's report about the Bioship's weapons powering up. He shot her in the gut and she fell, winded.

-We cannot continue this indefinitely,- Jaime pointed out.

"Then we disable them to prevent pursuit," the Scarab said, turning his weapon on the Bioship as he flitted about, trying to make himself a difficult target. Jaime felt the now-familiar tingle of the Scarab trying to increase the power of the gun. He didn't allow it. "We don't have time for these struggles," the Scarab said testily.

-Recommended tactic: surrender and minimise risk.-

"Not an option."

-You risk injuring both of us, as well as our allies.-

"We heal. So do they. If we allow ourselves to be captured, we have no guarantee that we will survive the encounter."

-Of course we'll survive!-

"Why would we? Their job is to eliminate threats to this planet. Right now, that could include us. If the Impulse has shared his concerns..."

-They're not going to kill us!-

"Then our attack is of minimal risk and there is no need to surrender." The Scarab cut a wound down the side of the Bioship, who immediately shrank back but didn't stop firing. Jaime could feel the Scarab's heart thundering, feel the complex interplay of hormones and nervous signals forming the emotions that Jaime himself could no longer feel, feel the trace amounts of endorphins released in response to the Scarab's minor injuries...

There was one way...

-I'm sorry. I can't allow this.- Jaime used his own systems to draw adrenalin out of the Scarab's blood and inject his own drug cocktail.

"What are you..."

-You might want to descend.-

"You didn't!" But the Scarab didn't waste time arguing; he started to descend. Slowly. By the time he blacked out and Jaime lost all contact with the outside world, they were barely a few feet off the ground.

* * *

They woke in cuffs.

Jaime ran a quick diagnostic – armoured up, but he was unable to make any changes to the armour, including bringing weapons online. Basic scanning and monitoring capabilities were normal, but anything that required the manufacture of new hardware was offline. There was a weight around their neck, something electronic. Inhibitor collar. The Scarab's physiological signs were within safe parameters. He was unhurt, beyond some rather painful bruises. His hands were shackled to each other, as were his feet. The cuffs were beyond his strength to break (strength was at normal human level) but would be easily removed if he could create the right tools. He was locked in a small, unfurnished room. The door was an old-fashioned non-electronic one. The lock mechanism wasn't visible from the inside. Deadbolt? There was a security camera planted high in one corner.

"Jaime..."

-I'm not hacking the collar.-

"If you disable it then we can make our escape."

-No.-

"Did you render us unconscious?"

-Yes.-

"Why?"

Jaime thought about how best to explain that to somebody like the Scarab. -You were irrational and unnecessarily escalating the fight. I had to put a stop to it.-

"By getting us captured?"

-There was no way to avoid capture. I minimised injuries on both sides of the conflict.-

"This is the second time that concern for your allies has gotten us captured. I am not certain that they are such the advantage you make them out to be. While we stay here, we remain in danger."

Trying to argue for the trustworthiness of his friends again would be pointless. -If they were going to kill us, they would've done so already.-

"Because you rendered us unable to fight back."

-I never thought I'd say this, but you're even more annoying this way than usual.-

"Now that I can experience annoyance, I can say that the feeling is mutual."

Locks started to open on the other side of the door. Jaime scanned for life signs. One human. He recognised the movements; Nightwing. He opened the door carefully. One hand near his belt, Jaime noticed.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Vital signs are stable," the Scarab answered, somewhat testily. "Are you going to let us go?"

"Can't." Noghtwing crouched down next to him in what most humans would probably assume to be a casual manner. Jaime noticed that his physiological systems were all in combat mode, and he balanced on the balls of his feet in a way that made them easy to spring from. "What happened to Bart?"

"You have seen the Impulse more recently than we have. He told your allies of our predicament."

"No he didn't. I did."

"But you agreed -"

"To keep you secret if you stayed here, which you refused to do. I had to tell them because Bart ran into you and immediately went offline. Where is he?"

-He's missing?!- Jaime felt for the electronic collar around his neck. He tasted the programming, felt around its twists and folds. Found vulnerable, vital parts. -Scarab, we have to find him. He's probably doing something really stupid. I have accessed the vital functions of this collar but it would be preferable to harness the cooperation of the Team.-

"They can't – " the Scarab muttered.

-Our goals are identical.-

The Scarab looked back to Nightwing. "The Impulse recognised the problem immediately and fled. He is probably doing something stupid and dangerous. We must find him immediately."

"'We?' No. You're staying here. The rest of the Team will handle Impulse."

"You do not trust us."

"I trust Jaime. I don't trust you. Stay put and we'll figure this thing out later."

That sounded like his cue. Jaime shorted the collar and tore open his shackles. The Scarab rolled to his feet, but didn't draw a weapon as Nightwing sprang back through the door. He started to close it; the Scarab assembled a sonic cannon and used a narrow, high-power beam to destroy the door hinges. "We are going to track down the Impulse," the Scarab said firmly. "Our efforts will be more effective if they are combined."

-You're getting a lot better at this,- Jaime noted, impressed.

"As are you," the Scarab whispered back.

Nightwing glanced from the ruined door to Blue Beetle, who was disassembling the cannon and casually tearing the inhibitor collar off with his free hand. "Alright. Fine. Briefing room in five minutes."

They armoured down before attending the briefing. It wasn't a big group. Cassie chatted with Karen in one corner. Conner looked over Nightwing's shoulder as he analysed some maps. Jaime detected everyone's heart rate increase slightly as he entered the room. Everyone but Nightwing shot the Scarab wary looks.

"Alright," Nightwing said before anybody could comment, "Let's get to work. Impulse ditched his communicator in El Paso, so we can't be completely certain of his location. We're going to have to use... cruder methods."

"What, are we lookin' for eyewitness reports of little red blurs from the future zooming past?" Karen asked doubtfully.

"No. Weather patterns."

"Huh?"

"Anyone moving at that speed for that amount of time creates some serious air pressure disturbance. He would've thrown off the weather patterns. Now, predicting weather isn't 100%, so some of this is speculative, but we might get an idea of where he's likely to be..." Nightwing pulled up a map on the big screen. "He's either in Alaska, or Happy Harbour. Probably."

"Why would he go back to Happy Harbour?" Cassie asked. "The Cave is a crater. There's nothing there."

"No less likely than Alaska," Karen shrugged.

"He arrived in Happy Harbour," Conner said. "That's where he got stuck in the past. Maybe it's a... a time travel thing?"

Nightwing nodded. "Superboy, Blue Beetle, you're alpha squad. Take the SuperCycle and get to Happy Harbour. Bumblebee, Wonder Girl, you're beta. Take the Bioship and check the area in Alaska. It doesn't seem to be near anything but maybe he was going for somewhere isolated."

The journey with Conner was awkwardly silent for about ten minutes. Then, Conner said, "So."

The Scarab didn't respond.

"So you're the Scarab, huh?"

"Correct."

"How does... how does that work, exactly?"

"Uncertain. I do not have full access to my diagnostics systems and my host does not have the knowledge to utilise them properly, make this exact nature of the problem difficult to determine." He shrugged. "It's magic."

"Magic, huh?"

-Oh look, you're mastering casual conversation. See? This isn't so hard. Just get through the whole thing without threatening to kill him and you'll be fine.- Jaime found himself monitoring Conner's vitals, estimating his strength and calculating the most efficient wavelength of light to blast him with should a fight ensue. He was pretty sure he could depower him without permanently hurting him. If he could get him out of sunlight. Otherwise things would get tricky.

"Look," Conner said, "I've heard Jaime talk to you. You know, before. And..." he sighed. "You know my past, right?"

"You are a half-human, half-Kryptonian Cadmus clone created to challenge Superman should your creators ever need to do so."

"Yeah. That. Well, they taught me stuff. Telepathically. When I first woke up I..." he shook his head. "Look, my point is, being thrown into this world and expected to act... human... isn't easy. Especially when everything you know and have been taught to expect is... off. Everyone's a bit frightened of you, but don't take that personally, okay? The first thing I did was attack the people who came to help me. ut they accepted me quickly enough."

The Scarab was silent for a few seconds. "Thanks you," he eventually said, in an unreadable tone.

"Is Jaime, well, awake in there?"

"He is aware. He is monitoring my physiological systems and scanning the surrounding environment." At that moment, Happy Harbour came into clear view. The Scarab lifted one arm for Jaime to build equipment and scan.

-Recent disturbance under the ruins of the Cave,- Jaime reported, displaying the relevant information on a hastily constructed viewscreen.

"The Cave has been disturbed," the Scarab told Conner, leaping over the side of the SuperCycle and flying himself gently to the ground. They kept scanning. Strange heat signatures, new rock fractures. Then... nothing? A patch of bare rock. It was oddly smooth, but it was hard to be sure if that meant anything at the site of a major explosion. Jaime switched to X-ray scanning.

-There is a chamber down there. It looks empty, but the walls are too smooth for a natural cave. Can't see much else with so much obstruction.-

Jaime did the relevant scans on rock stress and type and provided an appropriate gun for the Scarab to start digging. Within about a minute they'd tunnelled into the chamber and flew down. Conner leapt down after them.

"What is this?" Conner asked.

"Uncertain. It was not on any Cave schematics."

There was a small passage on one side of the chamber. Conner followed it while the Scarab and Jaime inspected the chamber more thoroughly.

-Given the size and the fact that it's empty, I'm guessing... garage?-

"Scan for residue of petroleum and other hydrocarbon fuels," the Scarab suggested.

-You think future-boy used a gas vehicle?-

"Anything more sophisticated would've given off energy reading that the Cave security systems would have detected. Unless you think this bunker is new."

-Good point.- Jaime scanned. -Yeah, there was definitely a petrol engine in here.-

"It leads to the ocean," Conner called from down the passage. "Actually, now that you've breached the roof we're getting a flooding problem."

-A boat?-

"At this depth, a submarine." The Scarab put away one armoured glove, crouched down and rubbed a finger against the ground. "But it was started on dry ground. The Team does not have a vehicle like this."

-Nope. Bart had a secret ground-moving submarine. Huh. Why?-

"And why now?"

Conner appeared at the end of the passageway. "We might want to move before this thing floods."

"He will be impossible to track in an unknown vehicle in water," the Scarab said. "We have lost this trail. If we could predict..." He froze.

"What?" Conner asked. "What is it."

-You're remembering what he told us about the future, aren't you? Only one place he could be going. He thinks he failed with me and he's trying to complete his mission. This is really bad.-

The Scarab took the armour off and met Conner's eyes. "He's gone to tackle the Reach. Alone."


	4. Chapter 4: The Thrilling Conclusion

"Just because he headed off into the water is no reason to jump to conclusions," Conner said reasonably. He leapt easily out of the garage.

The Scarab armoured up and followed. "No, that is where he has gone."

Conner looked doubtful, but reported to Nightwing just the same.

-The question is, how do we follow him?-

"Bart's reckless, but he wouldn't go after the Reach alone," Nightwing's voice crackled through the communicator. "Why do you think he'd do that?"

-You can't tell them!-

"Our reasoning relates to information from the future... given possible risks to the timestream..."

"Okay, okay. Everyone back to base. I'm calling in the rest of the Team."

Jaime and the Scarab would both have preferred to avoid getting the whole Team involved, but with Bart's life on the line, neither objected. They entered the briefing room behind Conner to see the entire Team, Mal, and a few Justice League members; Zatanna and Rocket loitered in one corner, while the Flash paced abnormally quickly. Jaime noted everyone's increase in heart rate as they walked in. La'gaan's body didn't something that Jaime's systems couldn't understand, that he assumed to be magical in nature. The Bats all adjusted their stances to put a weapon in easy reach. Rocket's hand went to her belt. Jaime doubted that the Scarab, relying on human senses, noticed any of those things, but it was hard to miss the sudden silence.

Nightwing broke it. "Good, we're all here. So Impulse took an as-yet-unidentified water vehicle stored under the site of Mount Justice, and headed off into the ocean. We can't track him. He has a few hours' head start. But there is the possibility that he has gone after the Reach."

"Yeah, I'm still not clear on the why," Karen pointed out. Most of the Team tried not to glance at Beetle, and failed.

"Nevertheless," Nightwing said, "it's our only lead. We'll start our search where we had our last encounter. They may have moved the ship, but Bart will start there too."

-If he's found the Reach, he's probably already dead,- Jaime pointed out.

The Scarab shrugged slightly, which Jaime took for mild disagreement.

-You think he's captured?-

A tiny nod.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Conner asked. "Let's cram in the bioship and go."

"Uhm," Cassie announced, "am I the only one who think this feels like a trap?"

Everyone moved uncomfortably. But nobody tried to silence her.

"Seriously, you can't all just go along with this. Mysterious aliens with tech pretty much exactly like Blue's armour show up, launch an invasion plan, we barely escape... and suddenly the trigger-happy AI is in charge of Blue's armour, and right then we lose a teammate, but the AI is mysteriously sure we can get him back by all walking straight back into the arms of the Reach? And that's not even getting into Blue's 'big brother', that Back Beetle thing which, you might remember, completely slew us all last battle. I'm not buying it."

The Scarab tried a smile. "Cassie, I wouldn't – "

"Nuh-uh. No, don't you think you can get me by smiling at me with his face." She poked him, hard, in the chest. "You're planning to turn Blue over to the Reach, and the rest of the Team as a bonus. Well I'm not walking in that easily. You want a fight, you'll get one, mister."

"Guys," Bumblebee said, "if they have Impulse..."

"Then us all getting ourselves caught isn't going to help him," La'gaan interrupted. "We need a plan, at least."

-We don't have time for this,- Jaime warned.

"What do you suggest?" the Scarab muttered, earning several glances.

-Let's just go and start searching. The others will probably make up their minds and catch up before we need them.-

"But you're the one who wanted... oh, fine." The Scarab raised his voice, which was hardly necessary since everybody was already listening to him. "We don't have time for this. We're getting to work. You'll know where to find us." The Scarab marched out. Nobody stopped him.

The high pressure of the deep ocean was no problem for Beetle's armour, although they did have a minor scare when, about halfway through their dive, the Scarab suddenly asked, "Why can't I move my hand?"

Jaime checked. -There's nothing physiologically wrong. Does it hurt?-

"No. No sensation."

-Huh.- Jaime checked again. -I can't find anything to explain that.-

"It is now working again."

Okay. That was a problem to figure out later. Jaime easily found the exact location of their previous Reach encounter and pointed it out. He scanned the area for human life signs, particularly Bart's life signs.

-He's not here...-

"Check for his ship's trail."

He did. -Uhm... it's hard to tell, but there are traces of burned fuel... wait, what's that?-

"What?"

Jaime highlighted a patch of ocean floor for the Scarab. A few moments' digging produced a chip of metal. "Iron, apparently."

-No, no it isn't. It's...- The metal had... character. Information. Jaime felt around it, and something in it responded to its electronic touch. Through the Scarab's eyes, he saw strange networks light up on the surface. -I know that pattern.-

"This is of the Reach," the Scarab agreed. "Possibly a broken piece of their ship."

Jaime poked around a bit more. The metal began to heat, then cool. It twisted into a small, smooth sphere. Manipulating the metal was easy, easier than shorting an inhibitor collar, easier than monitoring other people's life signs. It felt almost like manipulating the armour. Like an extension of the armour, but... very slightly different. And wounded. A piece of a whole. -I think... I think it can find the rest of the ship.-

"Do you believe the Impulse can successfully find the rest of the ship?"

-I don't know. It's worth a look.-

"Unless it gets us captured for no reason. A second time." The Scarab paused. "Third if you count Nightwing."

-Well, the Team can presumably still track us using whatever they used to find us in the desert, so they'll be following and can provide backup.-

"While we charge in blindly without a plan against a superior enemy?"

-I just want to confirm whether he's there or not. If our sensors pick him up there... or if he's still searching, and we intercept him...-

The Scarab took a few seconds to respond. Finally, he said, "Which way?" Jaime showed him.

They were well on their way before it occurred to Jaime that the Scarab was being far too cooperative. He'd put up no more than a token resistance against their insanely risky plan with no real guarantee of payoff and he hadn't suggested killing anybody for hours. But he didn't care about Bart. He didn't care about any of Jaime's friends as anything more than useful allies and possible risks. The Scarab was planning to practically march into the Reach's hands for no reason.

Unless that was the reason. Did the Scarab want to go to the Reach? Was it defecting, merely pretending to be on Jaime's side so that he wouldn't sedate it again to prevent it from doing so? Jaime was painfully aware that the Scarab's loyalty to the Team and to humanity in general was merely a side effect of its loyalty to its host. Perhaps it had decided to stop listening to its host altogether.

He wasn't even the host any more. Perhaps, in twisted Scarab logic, that meant his opinion no longer mattered? That he no longer had authority? What was it he'd said, when they were fighting the muggers in El Paso? "In case you did not notice, Jaime Reyes, making that decision is no longer your role." And now the Scarab was going to do something stupid and potentially irreversible and as much as Jaime could fight and quibble on details, short of rendering them both completely helpless there was nothing he could ultimately do to stop him.

Was this how the Scarab felt _all the time?!_

The Scarab checked Jaime's map and saw they were getting close. _Adrenalin spike, within safe parameters._

Aha! Of course. Jaime would simply ask. The Scarab couldn't deceive him, he was a living lie detector. And unlike a crude, unreliable polygraph, he has access to all sorts of physiological monitoring systems. And he'd been monitoring the Scarab long enough to have a good baseline of reactions.

-Why are you doing this?-

No anxiety. "It was your plan."

-But why are you helping? You don't care about Bart.-

"My motivations are irrelevant." No anxiety. He really was dismissing them as irrelevant.

-Not if you're defecting to the Reach.-

Adrenalin spike, and several other chemicals. Increased heart rate. Not anxiety, though; anger. He even sounded angry. "What? Why would that be your assumption? I have no intention of betraying the Team!"

-Okay, okay. I'm sorry. I'm just a bit confused.-

He started to settle down. A little. "It is unimportant."

-You know, it's a lot harder for me to do my job if you don't share your reasoning with me.-

"We already agree on actions."

-Your thought processes are heavily influenced by your mood, remember? If you want a rational perspective...-

"You saw how they looked at me. In the Cave. You heard what the Wonder Girl claimed."

-Yes.-

"Most of them believed her. Or at least suspected."

-Yes.-

"And even you believe her."

-No!-

"You just accused me of – "

-I was just confused.-

The Scarab huffed. "I have not at any point betrayed this team. I have not attacked them in any conflict that they did not start."

-You do occasionally suggest killing them.-

"And every single time I have deferred to your insistence that we continue to trust them, even when they are clearly unworthy of it. Time and again I have allowed you to drag us into battle for them. I may think you sacrifice too much for too little potential gain with this team a lot of the time, but I would have thought my actions to be a little more relevant in their judgements of me. If I must prove them wrong, then I will."

-You're aware that this is a trivial reason to run headlong into danger.-

"Unfortunately even my awareness that this is a terrible idea does not seem to decrease my motivation to do it."

-Congratulations, you've discovered what it's like to be human.-

"Dangerous and inefficient?"

-And you've discovered sass. A big learning day today. Reach ship up ahead.- The ship lit up on Jaime's sensors as nonthreatening and familiar. Comforting, like the smell of coffee in the morning. Jaime made a mental note not to automatically trust all his systems. -What's the plan here?-

"You will interface with the ship's systems and scan for the Impulse."

-Won't that get us caught?-

"Almost definitely. But there is a slight chance that we will have our advantage in... uh, 'beginner's luck'."

-We're relying on luck?!-

"Uh, no, I may have misunderstood that phrase. I meant that complete amateurs often have a slight advantage over experts in a given field, based on sheer unpredictability. The systems will know my touch, but you are like to behave... differently in the system. It may make you harder to notice and your motives more difficult to deduce."

-You think that'll work?-

"It is much more likely that you will be detected even easier than I would. But since I would be detected almost immediately, the difference is unimportant."

-If you're trying to look on the positive side, you're really bad at it.-

"If you are trying to give me rational or impartial advice, you are failing."

-... Good point. Let's do this.-

The Scarab landed lightly on the surface of the ship and pressed one armoured hand to the side. Jaime felt his mind expend, open to the ship's programming. Very gently, trying not to disturb anything, he felt around, familiarised himself with the design. It was remarkably easy.

He recalled the brief glimpse of Bart's systems he'd gotten before Bart had run off._ Find this_, he told the ship. The moment he gave the command, he felt... something... in the ship pause, wary. After a moment, it moved on. Had he escaped notice? Or raised a silent alarm?

There... port side, far corridor, Bart's heart beat fast, much faster than any normal human heart could. But he wasn't moving; he was frozen, waiting in a corner for a couple of the Reach to pass by. Jaime could see that as soon as they turned the corner, they'd see him. He reported the relevant information to the Scarab.

"We extract him now."

-Got it.- Jaime opened a hole in the side of the ship and forced Bart out, into the ocean. That definitely raised an alarm. They didn't stay connected to the ship long enough to check the extent of the response; the Scarab was already swimming for Bart, struggling against the pressure of the ocean and trying to hold his breath. The Scarab scooped the little speedster up in one arm and Jaime extended a metal skin over him, synthesising air for him. Bart, though, continued to struggle.

"If you break out of my grip, you will drown," the Scarab noted neutrally, moving as fast as he could away from the ship.

"You haven't won," Bart said. But he stopped struggling. "You think stopping me will stop the Earth from protecting itself? You think killing me will make a difference? Go ahead. It won't."

-I recommend sedation.-

"Do it."

Jaime supposed that under normal conditions, sedating a speedster would be very difficult. But with a read on Bart's physiology and total control over his oxygen supply, it wasn't. He just added a sedative to his air supply and kept the concentration ratio to oxygen constant so Bart couldn't interfere with his own metabolism to fight it. He was asleep in seconds.

Pursuit was a more complicated matter. The ship itself hadn't followed, but Jaime detected three entities in the water behind him. He showed the Scarab.

"What are they?"

-Something Reach. Beyond that, no idea. I think they're... shielded from my scanning, somehow.-

"Ideally we should avoid combat. I cannot move my right arm."

-Oh, that's... that's gonna be a problem.-

"Are they too fast to outrun?"

-Yeah. They are. And with you partly paralysed, Bart in your arms and neither of us very experienced at our jobs... I'm going to divert all available power to getting us out of here as fast as possible. Maybe we can at least get Bart to the surface.- Jaime went to do exactly that. -Um. I appear to have lost control over some armour functions.-

"What? How?!"

-I don't know. Diagnostics look fine... the ones I can run. Uhm.. a lot of my scanning equipment is offline too.-

"What do you have?"

-Pursuers. Immediate landscape. Your vital functions, but not Bart's. Some chemical analysis I think... not much else. Can we hide anywhere?-

"I doubt it. We may still get the Impulse close enough to the surface that he can escape."

-Then we do that.- Together, they swam. Jaime considered waking Bart, but a panicked, struggling speedster underwater was probably till going to slow them more than a dead weight. Jaime watched their pursuers circle to surround them; one above, one in front, one behind. They dodged left; their pursuers followed. They didn't seem to be in any hurry.

"My right leg isn't responding," the Scarab said dispassionately. "You will need to take control of the armour to swim."

-I can't. I have practically no control.- Their pursuers winked out of Jaime's awareness, leaving him with only the Scarab's eyesight.

"Ugh. We won't even be able to go down fighting."

-You still have one arm, right? When they get close enough, punch them in the face.-

The Scarab curled his hand into a fist. When he was grabbed from behind, he did twist to punch his attacker in the face, but La'gaan avoided the attack easily. "You okay, Blue?"

"How did you get...? If the rest of the Team here?"

"Ready for pickup, we just need to lose these guys." La'gaan didn't seem to notice the drag of wither of his passengers as he powered through the water.

"Atlantean or not, you can't outrun – "

"Don't need to. That's what the army is for."

Suddenly, they were surrounded by what Jaime could only assume were Atlantean soldiers. Sorcerors sliced their watery constructed through the ocean ahead of them. Armoured soldiers drew guns. La'gaan dragged his passengers toward the surface. Jaime's vision blacked out. He heard the Scarab mutter, "Jaime?" just before his hearing failed, and found himself unable to respond.

* * *

Jaime felt his heartbeat, a reassuring rhythmic pressure in his back. Something was beeping. He opened his eyes. A hospital room, it looked like. Not one of the Reach's containment pods. That was probably a good sign.

"Scarab?" he whispered.

-All physiological systems are within normal parameters,- the Scarab reported.

"Right. Thanks."

-Recommendation: we avoid ever repeating that experience.-

"The body swap, or the part where we tried to rescue someone from the Reach single-handedly?"

-Both of those things.-

"Yeah, agreed." Jaime sat up, expecting pain. He had some mild bruises, but there was no cramping. All his muscles seemed to be working. He stared at his own hands, then looked down at his chest, covered in electrodes for the beeping heart monitor beside him. His hands. His chest. "So... it's over?"

-That would be a sound prediction. As an aside, were you aware that there is a tracker attached to my carapace?-

"A... that's how Nightwing followed us?" Jaime thought a moment. "The first time we met after the switch! He got behind us during that fight!"

-Why did you not pick it up?-

"I was scanning you, it didn't occur to me to scan myself!"

-... then I am glad this situation has resolved so quickly.-

"I thought you did well with completely unfamiliar equipment too, Scarab." Jaime started pulling the electrodes off his chest just as assorted teammates charged through the door.

"Blue?" Cassie asked. She made to step forward. Nightwing beat her to it.

"Are you...?"

"It's me. Jaime," he amended. "It's Jaime."

The sudden outpouring of relief in the room was unmistakeable.

"Are you ok?" Conner asked.

"Fine. We're both fine. Where's Bart?"

Nightwing left the room, gesturing for him to follow. Jaime had the Scarab make him some clothes and did so. "We thought it best to leave him sedated until you woke up," Nightwing explained as they walked, "Lest he go do something stupid again. But I suppose we can wake him now."

Bart looked so vulnerable, a tiny, still figure lying in a hospital bed. Jaime knew there was nothing wrong with him (at least, there hadn't been in the ocean); he knew the heart monitor was a safety precaution and the drip in his arm was probably just a sedative, but it still hurt to look at him. While they watched, a doctor played with some drip tubing, then stood aside to wait. After a few minutes, Bart opened his eyes.

"Bart? Bart! Are you okay?" Jaime darted to his side.

"He'll be disoriented for awhile," the doctor warned.

But Bart's gaze immediately fixed on Jaime. Then, slowly, he smiled. "You did it. You beat him."

"Well, I didn't exactly..." It really wasn't the time for an in-depth discussion on the matter. "Yeah, it's me."

"I knew you would."

"Is that why you ran off to attack the Reach _by yourself_? What exactly did you expect to accomplish?!"

"It doesn't matter now."

"How did you even find the Reach?"

"Doesn't matter. Is everyone...?"

Jaime glanced at Nightwing. "Everyone's fine," Nightwing confirmed. "But you need rest."

"Rest? I've been lying in this bed for.. uhm..."

"About an hour. Besides, sedated rest doesn't count."

Jaime managed to talk Nightwing out of trying to keep him in hospital for observation, explaining how worried his mother would be. Then he zetaed home, armoured up and went on patrol. "So, um... Scarab."

-I am listening.-

"I noticed everyone was kind of happy that this whole thing was over."

-Including you.-

"Yeah, of course. But I mean, the Team... I know they still don't really trust you, and..."

-It is not relevant.-

"I don't care how relevant it is, I know you proved yourself again today. And I just wanted to say, well, I was really proud of you."

The Scarab didn't respond for a few seconds. -It is good for us to be able to trust and take pride in each other, given the nature of our relationship,- he eventually said.

"Right. Well. Anyway."

-Civillian in distress three blocks South.-

"Huh?" If he listened, Jaime thought he could hear some muffled screams. He changed direction. "Let's do this!"

It would be a lie for Jaime to claim that he wasn't happy to be back in his own body. But he was just as happy to have the Scarab back in his. They might not always agree, but they were a team and they needed to rely on each other.

He'd never really realised how much.


End file.
